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AN203 Flyer
Coach card Full unit

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Angles · Relative · The jump

Angles 203

Fly angles in a back-fly slot

The back-fly follower slot: below and behind the leader, and the roll back to belly.

What this unit covers

Covers flying a back-fly follower slot in a 2–3-way angle (movement) jump behind a trained leader: slot geometry below and behind the leader's line, holding the slot through the leader's speed and pitch changes, the roll back to belly, and clearing airspace from the back.
Back-flying in an angle group is strictly a follower skill flown in slot. Angle groups are never led from the back, the leader flies belly-to-earth on every jump. Navigation and ground reference come from the belly, and a back-flying "leader" cannot reliably see where the group is going. Recommended order: the belly slot (FFP-AN201) first. It is a recommendation and not a gate: some flyers arrive from a discipline that made them comfortable on their back first, and the two streams are assessed independently.
The rest of it
A Satisfactory belly stream does not credit this one, and this one does not credit the belly stream. Everything about planning, gear, exit order, heading discipline, the left-behind protocol, in-slot recovery and breakoff is as stated in FFP-AN201 and unchanged.
The safety-critical criteria are restated here in full rather than referenced, so a flyer briefing this unit alone still reads the numbers. Environment: sky, with tunnel back carving as preparation.

What comes before it

Screen 2 · What you are watched on

What you are watched on

The same short list a coach ticks, in the same words. Nothing is hidden from you.

3.4 Safety critical
Hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader's line with a lateral offset, never letting the legs pass the leader's head, keeping visual on the leader throughout.

Can you hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader’s line (their head on the horizon), with a lateral offset, during moderate turns and pitch changes?

3.6
Follow the leader through briefed speed and pitch changes, re-establishing level and slot from the back.

Can you follow the leader through speed and pitch changes and re-establish level and slot from your back?

3.10
Transition between the back-fly and belly slots on the briefed key, remaining on level and in slot through the change.

Can you transition from back to belly, and belly to back, whilst remaining on level and in slot?

Screen 3 · Safety and altitudes

Safety and altitudes

Everything here is a recommendation with a reason behind it, not a rule. The drop zone you are jumping at, and your own limits on the day, decide what actually happens.

Safety-critical criteria on the short list

3.4
Hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader's line with a lateral offset, never letting the legs pass the leader's head, keeping visual on the leader throughout.

Can you hold the back-fly slot below and slightly behind the leader’s line (their head on the horizon), with a lateral offset, during moderate turns and pitch changes?

Everything this unit says about breakoff and deployment

1.4
State the breakoff and deployment altitudes and the lost-flyer plan: breakoff guide 5,000 ft for groups up to 4-way, 5,500 ft for 5 and larger (most modern jumpers plan 5,500 ft for movement jumps of any size), separating at least 1,000 ft above planned deployment. Movement-jump separation is designed on the ground, not improvised in the air.
2.1
Complete a movement-jump gear check on self and cross-check the group: hand-deploy BOC or pull-out, bridle fully covered, tight riser covers and closing loop, secure handles and clothing, helmet, audible set and functioning. Audibles fail silently, and an angle breakoff depends on hearing yours.
2.2
Walk the dive with the group, including the breakoff fan with eye contact between neighbouring flyers.
3.8
If left behind, keep flying the group's heading and closing correctly; stop closing by ~7,000–7,500 ft, hold the distance, and break off on the group's timing, not its altitude, because the classic pull-time collision is a trailing flyer still closing while the group slows to deploy.
3.9
Execute in-slot recovery immediately on any instability: keep speed on the group's direction and angle, never ball up, never track away; re-approach only when stable, and if separation persists, follow the group at a distance until breakoff.
4.1
Initiate breakoff at the briefed altitude (−0/+300 ft as a working guide).
4.4
Accelerate flat to build separation, then flatten and decelerate progressively before deployment.
4.5
Visually clear airspace in all directions before deploying at the planned altitude, never treating the deployment itself as clearing airspace: pulling dumps fabric into the airspace, it does not clear it.

Altitudes here are the guides this curriculum recommends and argues for. Where the drop zone briefs something different, the drop zone is what you fly.

Screen 4 · After the jump

After the jump

From this unit's own closing element, review.

5.1
Debrief against the declared objective using the available footage, talking the coach through own heading, level, slot and altitude decisions.
5.2
Identify one fault and its correction for the next jump, and log the jump with criteria results against the back-fly stream.

One fault, one correction

Before the video, before anyone else speaks: name the single thing that went wrong, and the single thing you will do differently next jump. One of each. A list of six is a list you will not fly.

Write them into your notes at the bottom of this card, and they will be here next time you open it.

Record this jump

Most records are the flyer's own, and that is the point: your own read of your own flying is worth keeping. A record only counts as verified once a coach signs it.

Your notes for this unit

Saved on this device only. Nothing is sent anywhere, there is nowhere for it to go, and no account is involved. They will be here next time you open this card.

This card is a summary. The full Angles 203 unit carries the reasoning, the sources and everything left off here. All briefing cards.